Apparatus for forming containers

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for forming containers from webs of plastic material is disclosed as including a forming machine and a web tensioning and feeding apparatus. The web tensioning and feeding apparatus feeds the plastic material to the forming machine in accordance with the consumption of plastic material by the forming machine and maintains a relatively constant tension in the plastic fed to the forming machine. The forming machine forms containers from the plastic material and includes printing apparatus for printing on the formed containers. The printing apparatus includes a platen with a roller adapted to be rolled on the platen to ink the platen so it can subsequently print on the container. Means are provided for disengaging the forming, blanking and printing devices from the main power drive and bringing these devices to a complete and instantaneous halt even while the motor is running.

United States Patent Brown, Jr. 1 May 2, 1972 [54] APPARATUS FOR FORMINGPrimary Examiner-Robert L. Spicer, .lr.

CONTAINERS Attorney-Kenyon & Kenyon [72] lnventor: Fred P. Brown, Jr.,Centerville, Mass. 57] ABSTRACT Assign: Packaging Industries Hyannis'Mass Apparatus for fonning containers from webs of plastic materi- [22]Filed: Oct. 24, 1969 al is disclosed as including a forming machine anda web ten- App]. No.: 869,249

sioning and feeding apparatus. The web tensioning and feeding apparatusfeeds the plastic material to the forming machine in accordance with theconsumption of plastic material by the forming machine and maintains arelatively constant tension in the plastic fed to the forming machine.The forming machine forms containers from the plastic material andincludes printing apparatus for printing on the formed containers. Theprinting apparatus includes a platen with a roller adapted to be rolledon the platen to ink the platen so it can subsequently print on thecontainer. Means are provided for disengaging the forming, blanking andprinting devices from the main power drive and bringing these devices toa complete and instantaneous halt even while the motor is running.

5 Clalnm, 13 Drawing Figures PATENTEBHAY 2 1912 3, 659 .893 SHEET 1 BF 7BY r! A fro/@76 5 PATENTEDMAYZ 1912 3,659 993 SHEET 2 0F 7 PATENTEDMAY 2I972 3,659,993 SHEET SUF 7 HI HI I IN- INVEN UR F260 9 590W 1?.

BY/W*/W PATENTEUHAY 2 m2 3 659 993 INVENTOR. ffo 6 M J APPARATUS FORFORMING CONTAINERS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the InventionThis invention relates to an improved method and apparatus for formingarticles such as containers, and more particularly to specificimprovements to the method and apparatus for forming containersdisclosed in my co-pending patent application Method and Apparatus forForming Containers filed Apr. ll, 1969 and having Ser. No. 815,292 andassigned to the same assignee as the assignee of the instantapplication.

As is well known to those familiar with the packaging art, plasticcontainers are being utilized for packaging materials for food productsin an ever increasing amount due to their great ease of manufacture,strength, durability and versatility. The advantages of using plasticmaterials for packaging materials for food products are that they havean attractive appearance, provide great protection to the product beingpackaged and are easily formed into configurations which heretofore werenot possible with conventional type materials.

2. Description of the Prior Art Prior to the machine disclosed in myco-pending patent application it was extremely difficult with prior artforming machines to form containers from webs of plastic material in aneconomical and efficient manner. The reason for this was that many ofthese prior art machines did not have the production rates necessary tokeep the cost of making the containers economically feasible.Additionally, many prior art machines which were used to form plasticcontainers were not flexible enough to facilitate rapid changeover fromone container configuration to another. A further drawback of some ofthese prior art machines was that they did not provide means to insurethat the formed plastic material did not return to its originalconfiguration or as is known in the art, overcome its memory. A furtherdrawback of some of the prior art forming machines was that they did notprovide efficient and accurate heating means to heat soften the plasticmaterial before it was thermoformed. This often resulted in excessivelyheating the plastic and thus producing a container with a non-uniformthickness.

The method and apparatus disclosed in my above-identified co-pendingpatent application provided a method and apparatus which overcame theabove-mentioned deficiencies associated with prior art forming machines.This was accomplished in the machine disclosed in my co-pending patentapplication by feeding a web of plastic material from a large continuousroll into the machine where the web was gripped by members whichintermittently advanced the material through the entire length of themachine. The gripping members engaged each side of the web of plasticmaterial to hold the material in a substantially horizontal plane duringeach of the operations required to form the container.

The material which was gripped by the gripping members was firstadvanced to an accurately controlled heating station which heat softenedthe material and by being accurately controlled insured that thecontainers formed from the material were of a uniform thickness.

The heated plastic material was then advanced to a forming stationwherein dies having the desired container configuration engaged theplastic material and formed it into a container having the configurationof the dies. Upon opening of the dies the formed container, which wasstill part of the continuous plastic web being advanced through themachine, was advanced to a printing station. At the printing station aprinting platen was lowered into engagement with a portion of thecontainer to impart a desired printed format thereto.

After the container had been printed it was subsequently advanced to atrimming and blanking station where the formed container was blankedfrom the continuous web of plastic material. The blanking apparatus wasprovided with means for stacking the severed containers one upon anotherprior to their removal from the machine.

As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention disclosedin my co-pending patent application provided a machine which overcamethe above-mentioned difficulties which heretofore were associated withprior art forming machines. While the machine disclosed in my co-pendingpatent application was effective in rapidly and efficiently formingcontainers from a web of plastic material it was specifically designedfor use with oil base or other slow drying inks where the ink wasapplied against a printing platen prior to the platen being pressedagainst the formed container to print thereon. This provided anefficient technique of printing on the formed container with theapparatus which accomplished this result being designed to be utilizedwith oil base inks or other similar inks.

In many situations it is desirable to use rapidly drying inks such as awater or alcohol base ink, these inks being charactetized by theirability to rapidly dry and by the desirability of evenly applying themto a platen to get good printing results. One such situation is when itis necessary to place items in the containers immediately after theyhave been formed and printed. This was not possible with the apparatusof my copending application since it was not designed to handle rapidlydrying inks. This prevented items from being placed in the formedcontainers after they left the forming machine until the ink thereon haddried. This was because if items were placed in the containers as soonas they came out of the forming machine they would smear the still wetink on the containers. This required storing the containers untilthe inkwas dry, something that required a great deal of space with the rapidproduction speed of the machine.

Additionally, it has been found to be desirable in the forming machinedisclosed in my copending patent application to maintain a predeterminedtension in the web of plastic material which is being fed to themachine. In my prior co-pending patent application no means wereprovided to achieve this.

In my co-pending application there was no provision for bringing themain power shaft of the machine and the parts movable therewith to acomplete halt. lfa tool or other implement was by accident caughtbetween the moving parts, such as the forming dies, there was nostructure to immediately halt the movement of the moving elements of themachine to prevent the moving elements from being damaged as they weremoved towards each other by the tool located between the path of travelof these elements. With the machine of my co-pending patent applicationthe only way to bring the machine to a halt was to shut down the powerto the main drive shaft or disconnect the main drive shaft from thedrive motor. While this was successful in gradually bringing the driveshaft to a halt, the inertia of the parts which were movable with thedrive shaft, such as the forming dies, the printing elements, etc., keptthe drive shaft rotating for a short period of time after the drivemotor had been shut off or the drive shaft was disconnected from thedrive motor. This extra rotation of the drive shaft was undesirable inthat it allowed the moving elements to continue to move towards eachother for the period of time required to dissipate the inertia of thesystem and possibly be damaged by the tool located between the movingelements.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the presentinvention to provide an improved method and apparatus for formingcontainers from continuous webs of thermoplastic material.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improvedapparatus for forming containers out of continuous webs of plasticmaterial wherein the apparatus is particularly designed for efficientlyand rapidly applying an even layer of ink to a platen which is to bepressed against a portion of the formed container to print thereon.

A further object of the present invention is to provide improved methodand means for applying ink to a surface.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide animproved printing roll which can rapidly apply an even coat of a fastdrying ink to a printing platen.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an improvedmethod and apparatus for forming containers out of continuous webs ofplastic material wherein means are provided for selectively andinstantaneously halting the movement of the drive means for the web ofplastic material which is to be formed into a container and thedifferent tools and implements moveable with the drive means and whichact on the plastic material to form it into the container.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improvedmechanism for regulating the tension in a web of continuous materialthat is fed to a predetermined location.

Briefly, in accordance with the present invention, the foregoing andother objects are achieved by utilizing a web tensioning and feedingapparatus to feed a web of plastic material to a forming machine. Theweb tensioning and feeding apparatus includes means for holding a rollof plastic material and a tension bar which rests on the plasticmaterial between the holding means and forming machine as it is fed tothe forming machine to provide a relatively constant tension in theplastic fed to the forming machine. A set of idler wheels are locatedadjacent the roll of plastic material and are driven by a motor throughbelts and a second set of wheels with the belts being in contact withthe roll of plastic material. Rotation of the motor and the two sets ofwheels causes the belt by friction with the roll of plastic to unrollthe plastic so it can be fed to the forming machine. Switching means areprovided for regulating the motor which controls the unrolling of theplastic material in accordance with the amount of plastic material thatis being utilized by the forming machine.

The forming machine includes a first drive train which has a discattached thereto with a caliper disc brake for the caliper disc.Actuation of the caliper disc brake will result in gripping of thecaliper disc and instantaneously bringing the drive shaft of the machineand the printing, forming and blanking elements movable therewith to acomplete and instantaneous halt. A plurality of caliper discs and matingcaliper brakes apply a constant drag to a second drive train which movesthe transport mechanism and which can be isolated or connected to thefirst drive train.

The mechanism for printing formed containers includes a metalliccylindrical inking roller having an ink holding surface such as diamondpatterns of knurl-like indentation a gravure surface, or helical inkinggrooves on its surface. A motor through a shaft rotates the inkingroller in a container of ink to ink the roller and means are providedfor moving the inking roller transversely in rolling contact with aprinting platen to ink the platen and override the motor so that thereis no slipping between the inking roller and the platen. The roller hasaxial freedom about the shaft which rotates it and magnetic means areprovided to hold the inking roller fixed relative to the support rollersupon which it rotates so that the inking roller will not float.

After the inking roller has inked the platen a drive train raises theplaten so that the inking roller can be moved to its original positionand the platen is pressed against a formed container printing thereon.By having an inking arrangement as disclosed herein it is possible toapply a rapid drying ink evenly to a printing platen so that the ink maybe applied to a container and rapidly dry therefrom.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Other objects, aspects and features ofthe present invention will be apparent from the following specificationand drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the web tension and feeding apparatusand forming machine disclosed herein;

FIG. 2 is an opened side elevational view of the web tension and feedingapparatus illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of the drive train of the machinedisclosed herein and one of the means for bringing the rotation of thedrive train and the elements movable therewith to an instantaneous andcomplete halt;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view looking from the side of the machinedisclosed. herein showing the drive train, the drive means for theprinting apparatus and the means for bringing the drive train and theelements movable therewith to an instantaneous and complete stop;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical section showing the inkingand printing apparatus disclosed herein and the drive means for theseapparatuses;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view looking transverse of the machine disclosedherein showing the transverse drive and the rotating means for theprinting and inking apparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical view of the printing andrelated drive apparatus disclosed herein;

FIG. 8 is a sectional side view of the printing and related driveapparatus disclosed herein;

FIG. 9 is a view illustrating how the inking roller disclosed hereininks the printing platen;

FIG. 10 is a view illustrating the relative movement between theprinting platen and inking roller disclosed herein after the inkingroller has inked the platen;

FIG. 11 is a view showing how the platen disclosed herein prints on acontainer;

FIG. 12 is a schematic illustration showing the permanent ceramicmagnets which are disclosed herein to hold the inking roller fixed aboutits axis; and

FIG. 13 is a schematic illustration showing how the permanent ceramicmagnets illustrated in FIG. 12 may be rearranged so as to providedifferent magnetic forces on the inking roller disclosed herein.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawingsand FIG. 1 in particular wherein a web tension and feeding apparatus 11is shown feeding a web of plastic material to a forming machine 10.Forming machine 10 of the present disclosure is similar to the formingmachine as disclosed in my above-noted co-pending patent application andonly those portions of the forming machine of the present applicationwhich differ from the forming machine disclosed in my co-pendingapplication and which are part of the present invention are discussed indetail herein. Web tension and feeding apparatus 11 regulates thetension in the web of plastic material which is fed to forming machine10 and the amount of feed of plastic to the machine. The plasticmaterial which may be formed by machine 10 may be any one of a varietyof materials such as expandable polystyrene form, biaxially orientedpolystyrene sheet, high impact polystyrene, multipolymer, polypropylene,polyethalene, ABS, laminated construction, and other thermoplasticmaterials. As noted in my Co-pending patent application, the machine isadapted to form many types of plastic containers such as eg cartons,margarine tubs, cottage cheese containers, meat trays, etc.

Web tension and feeding apparatus 11 includes an upright frame 12 havingparallel upright frame members and 12b. Supported by upright framemembers 120 and 12b is a cross bar 13 with a roller 14 rotatably mountedthereon.

Pivotally attached to frame members 12a and 12b is U- shaped tension andfeed control member 15. Member 15 is seen to include opposed arms 15aand 15b and as the arms are identical to each other a description of arm15a will suffice for an understanding of the present invention. Arm 15aincludes sections 15c and 15d with section 15c having an enlargedportion l5e. An arm 15f extends rearwardly from actuating portion 15e,as viewed in FIG. 1, with a counter weight 15w located thereon. Section15d includes a straight arm with sections 15d and 15c meeting each otherabout pivotal connection 151:, the pivotal connection being afifixed toupright frame member 12b so that arm 15a is pivotable thereabout.Attached to one end of arms 15a and 15b is a bar 15k about which aroller 15L is free to rotate.

As can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, an inverted U-shaped bar 16 having twosides with side 16a being visible in FIG. 2 and a wheel support bar 16bhas the bottom of its sides pivotably mounted about a bar 19. Bar 19 ispivotably mounted to the web tension and feeding apparatus near thebottom thereof. Rotatably mounted on wheel support bar 16b are aplurality of wheels 17 spaced along the length of the bar. Fixedlymounted on bar 19 are a plurality of drive wheels 20, there being thesame number of drive wheels 20 as there are wheels 17 on bar 1612. Eachdrive wheel 20 is co-planar with a wheel 17 with a belt 18 coupling theco-planar wheels. Preferably belt 18 is a rubber V belt with wheels 17and 20 having a recessed periphery to receive the V of the belt.

As can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings a roll R of plasticmaterial which is to be fed to forming machine is mounted for rotationalfreedom about a bar 21. The drive for rotating wheels 20 and 17 isprovided by a motor 22 which rotates a sprocket 23. A chain 24 isrotated by sprocket 23 and in turn rotates a sprocket 25 which may besymmetrical with shaft 19 and which rotates shaft 19. Located on arm bis a conventional mercury switch 26 which has the characteristics ofhaving a differential between its closing and opening operating points.Rotation of member 15 in a counterclockwise direction results inchanging the contact conditions of the switch so as to activate motor22. Rotation of member 15 in a clockwise direction results in a contactcondition in switch 26 that stops rotation of motor 22.

In normal operation belts 18 are positioned in contact with roll R sothat rotation of motor 22, sprocket 23, chain 24, sprocket 25, shaft 19,wheels and V belts 18 results in the unrolling of the material due tothe friction between the material and the belts so the material goesover roller 14 and under roller 15L to be fed to machine 10. The weightof tension and feed control member 15 applied in the plastic materialbetween roller 14 and machine 10 by roller 15L maintains a relativelyconstant weight on the plastic and hence a relatively constant tensiontherein and in the material that is fed to machine 10.

The height of roller 15L will depend on how rapidly machine 10 isdrawing plastic from roll R. If machine 10 is drawing plastic from rollR while motor 22 is off the plastic extending from roller 14 to machine10 has its height increased so that tension and feed control member 15is rotated in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 2and arm 15b is elevated. As a result switch 26 has its contactconditions changed so that motor 22 will be operated to cause moreplastic to be fed to machine 10. This results in a decrease in theelevation of the plastic material extending from roller 14 to machine 10causing tension and control member 15 to descend or rotate in aclockwise direction if the material being utilized by machine 10 is lessthan the feed from roll R with the motor on. If machine 10 continues touse plastic material slower than it is being unrolled from the roll R,the tension and feed control member will continue to rotate in aclockwise direction and cause the contact conditions of switch 26 to bechanged to shut motor 22. While this is happening roller 15L will beresting on the material with the weight of the tension and controlmember maintaining a relatively constant tension therein. This cyclecontinues as long as machine 10 is operating insuring that properlytensioned material is directed thereto and that the material is unrolledas utilized by machine 10. As the diameter of the roll of plasticdecreases the frictional contact between belts 18 and the plastic rollgradually swings the wheels and belt to the dotted position seen in FIG.2. A biasing means could be used if desired to bias belts 18 againstroll R to assist in maintaining contact between the belts and the rollas the diameter of the roll decreases.

The drive train for the machine is shown in FIG. 3 and is seen toinclude a main drive motor 30 which drives a sprocket 31, which is notvisible in FIG. 3 due to its engagement with chain 32. A sprocket 33 isin engagement with chain 32 and is in engagement with clutch 34. Whenclutch 34 is engaged with motor 30 it rotates shaft 35 which is joumaledin bearings 36 and keyed to sprocket 37. Chain 38 is in engagement withsprocket 37 and a sprocket that is rotatable \w'th shaft 39a but notvisible in FIG. 3. Shaft 39a is joumaled in bearings 40a and located onthe rightmost portion of shaft 39a, as viewed in FIG. 3, is one face ofa jaw clutch 41. The other face of jaw clutch 41 is rotatable with ashaft 39b which is housed in bearings 40b. Rotatable with shaft 390 isthe machine transport means 64 as described in my co-pending applicationand also movable with the shaft is a disc 44 which can be seen inFIG. 1. Caliper brakes 45 are automatically cycled into light brakingcontact with discs 64 to cyclically place a drag on the transport means.Shaft 3% controls movement of the machine forming and blanking means asdescribed in my co-pending application as well as the printing means. Adisc 45a is located on shaft 39b and is mated with caliper brake 44 tobring the disc, shaft 391: and the elements movable therewith to acomplete and instantaneous halt when desired. With motor 30 rotatingshaft 39b will rotate when clutches 34 and 41 are engaged.

An actuator 42, which may include a piston and cylinder arrangement,controls jaw clutch actuating rod 43 and the engagement of jaw clutch41. It is possible to remove power from shaft 39b with motor 30 rotatingby actuator 42 disengaging jaw clutch 41.

In FIG. 4 of the drawings the relationship between power shaft 39b andthe control mechanism for the printing operations is shown. As can beseen in the figure, a two faced cam 50 is rotatable with shaft 39b bybeing keyed thereto or by any of the other conventional techniques knownto the skilled mechanic. Cam 50 includes a track 51 located on its leftface as viewed in FIG. 4 and another track on the right face which isnot visible in FIG. 4 (hereinafter referring to these faces and tracksfor illustrative purposes as the left and right faces and left and righttracks, respectively). Located in left track 51 is a follower 52 withthe follower being rigidly connected to an ink roller control lever 54.

Ink roller control lever 54 at its bottom-most portion, as shown in FIG.4, is pivotably mounted about a shaft 53 which is fixed rigid to machine10. In a similar fashion a follower is located in the right track of cam50 with the follower for this track being joined to platen control lever55. As with lever 54, lever 55 is pivotally mounted on its bottom-mostportion of shaft 53. Lever 54 at its top most portion is pivotallyattached to an adjustable inking control link 56 whereas lever 55 at itsuppermost portion is pivotally connected to a tierod 57. As can be seenin FIG. 5, adjustable inking control link 56 includes members 56a and5619 with the members being movable relative to each other.

An inking drive motor 70 is fixed relative to machine 10 and is fixed torotate via shaft 71 a sprocket 72. A chain 73 is rotatable with sprocket72 and in turn rotates a free floating double sprocket 74 which isrigidly secured to sprocket 72 by link 98, sprocket 74 being clearlyshown in FIG. 6. Sprocket 74 is a double sprocket as it includes twosets of teeth with chain 73 being in mesh with one set of teeth and achain 75 being in mesh with the other set. As shown in FIG. 7, chain 75is in mesh with a sprocket 76 which rotates via a one way clutch 100 ashaft 97 and, via shaft 97, an inking roller 77. As can be seen in FIGS.6 and 7 shaft 97 extends through inking roller 77 and pinion to becoupled to one-way clutch 87, the clutch also being coupled to thepinion. Pinion 85 has the same pitch diameter as inking roller 77 for areason soon to be apparent and is in mesh with rack 86, which is heldfixed as can clearly be seen in FIG. 6. A rack, not seen in the Figs, isparallel to rack 86 and a pinion rotates thereon. The pinion is coupledvia a shaft and gearing to pinion 85 and is coupled to the opposite sideof the inking transport means as is pinion 85 to prevent the inkingtransport means from jamming or skewing on rack 86 if this were the onlyrack. This arrangement is similar to the arrangement for the heatingstation in my copending application.

Inking roller 77 is located in an inking container 79 with rollers 81attached to the top of the container. Rollers 81 are adapted to rollalong a track 80 which runs transverse to the major axis of the machinewhen the inking roller inks the platen as hereinafter described. Aslotted link 121 extends between double sprocket 74 and sprocket 76 withthe free end of lever 56b slideable therein.

The printing mechanism of the present invention is clearly illustratedin FIGS. 7 and 8 with roller 77 being a hollow metallic cylindricalmember and including helical grooves 77:: with the pitch of the groovespreferably being about 120 lines/inch. The ends of the helical groovesare flat so as not to cut into the platen during inking of the platen.Alternatively, inking roller 77 could have a gravure engraved surface, adiamond patterned surface etc. Roller 77 includes an end plug 77b and isloosely fitted on shaft 97 so as to rotate therewith but to have radialfreedom with respect to the shaft. This can be accomplished by anytechnique available to the skilled mechanic.

Inking roller 77 is supported on support rolls 78 which are locatedwithin and fixed to inking container 79 and serve to support the inkingroller as it rotates. The bottom portion of inking roller 77 extendsinto the ink in inking container 79 with the right most roller 78, asviewed in FIG. 8, wiping off excess ink from the rotating inking roller,which always rotates in a counter-clockwise direction as viewed in theFigs. Cover plates 93 and 94 are afiixed to the top of inking container79 and serve to minimize the evaporation of ink from the container. Acontinuous supply of ink is adapted to be directed to inking container79 with ink drawn from the container through line 92 to a vacuum tank 1l and directed thereto via pump 111 and line 91.

In order to keep inking roller 77 in contact with roller 78 a row ofceramic magnets 90 are located near the bottom portion of inkingcontainer 79 and extend thereacross parallel to the rotational axis ofthe inking roller, as seen in FIGS. 7, 12 and 13. These magnets due totheir attraction with inking roller 77 firmly hold the inking rolleragainst rollers 78. Preferably there will be nine magnets in the rowwith openings between the magnets and the number of magnets in. the rowinterchangeable as seen in FIGS. 12 and 13, the magnets may be if; by 1inch in cross section.

By utilizing these magnets along with rollers 78 inking roller 77 isalways in contact with rollers 78 and will not float on shaft 97 so asto be accurately positioned when the platen is inked thereby. The systemof using a floating inking roller, which is magnetically attracted torollers 78, has a number of advantages. In the prior art, the inkingrollers were rigidly secured to a shaft which rotated the inking rollerand thus required an intricate bearing arrangement in order to for theinking roller concentric with the shaft which rotated it. The presentinvention eliminates the need for this intricate bearing arrangement andis of a simple construction and can apply an even coat of rapidly dryingink to a surface.

Platen 62 is connected to a link 58 which is fixed to shaft 59 and todrive link 60. Shaft 59 being rotatable with respect to the machine.Movable with link 58 is a drive arm 60 which is joined to a platen driveshaft 61, the free end of platen drive shaft 61 being connected toplaten 62. Directly located below platen 62 are mandrels 63 as describedin my co-pending patent application. Link 58 is slotted so that movementof drive arm 57 will result in rotation of link 58 and rotation of drivearm 60 with the result being vertical movement of platen drive shaft 61and the platen 62. The connection between drive arm 60 and shaft 61 issuch that rotation of drive arm 60 will result in only vertical movementof platen 62.

OPERATION In normal operation web tension and feeding apparatus 11unrolls the plastic material from roll R and feeds it to the grippingmeans of machine under a predetermined tension as the machine utilizesthe plastic. Machine 10 advances the plastic material to the heating andforming stations of the machine with the drive from shaft 39a rotatingthe gripping transport mechanism for the plastic as disclosed in my cmpending application. Shaft 39b controls the operation of the forming andblanking station as disclosed in my co-pending application. Motor 70rotates inking roller 77 in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed inFIGS. 5 and 9, via shaft 71, sprocket 72, chain 73, double face sprocket74, chain 75, sprocket 76, clutch 100 and shaft 97. Clutch 87 is nowdisengaged. The rotation of inking roller 77 within inking container 79will insure that a continuous film of ink is evenly applied to thesurface of the roller. The inking roller 77 is held fixed to rollers 78as previously described.

With the inking platen in the position illustrated in FIG. 5 rotation ofdouble face cam 50 will cause follower 52 and lever 54 to move to theright as viewed in FIG. 5. This will pull lever 56 and, via link 121,the inking roller to the right, as viewed in FIG. 5, with rollers 81rolling along track and sprocket 74, which is free floating, will movein a generally upward path with link 98 rotating slightly in a clockwisedirection. The location of the movement of the inking roller to theright can be adjusted by moving elements 56a and 56b relative to eachother. As a result of inking roller 77 moving to the right, pinion 85will roll along rack 86 with clutch 87 engaged and clutch disengaged sothat shaft 97 will rotate with the same angular velocity as pinion 85rotates as it is drawn along rack 86. The rotation of the shaft andhence the roller will be faster than when motor 70 is rotating theseelements. Since the diameter of roller 77 and pinion 85 is the same, thelinear velocity of the pinion relative to the rack will be the same asthe linear velocity of the inking roller relative to the stationaryplaten with the surface of the inking roller rolling in acounter-clockwise direction along the bottom of the platen, as viewed inFIG. 9, as the inking roller moves to the right of the platen. As thereis no slippage between the pinion and rack due to the positiveengagement of their teeth there is no slipping between the inking rollerand the platen as the roller rolls along the platen and an even layer ofink will be applied to the platen. The magnets which act on the inkingroller will set up an eddy current which acts as a brake on the rotationof the roller so that all the backlash in the roller is taken up as itrotates. During this time the follower on the right track of double facecam 50 will be dwelling with the platen remaining in the position shownin FIG. 5.

Once the inking roller has completely transversed the printing platenrotation of cam 50 will cause follower 52 and lever 54 to move to theleft as shown in FIG. 5. This will cause rack 86 to rotate pinion 85with clutch 87 now being disengaged so that motor 70 via shaft 97 andclutch 100 is rotating roller 77. While this is happening the followerin the right track of double face cam 50 will move to the left as thecam is rotating pulling lever 55 and tie rod 57 to the left causinglinks 58 and 60 to rotate in a clockwise direction. This elevates drivearm 61 and platen 62 so that the platen is elevated, as shown in FIG.10, on the movement of the inking roller to the position shown in solidlines in FIG. 5 to prevent contact between the roller and platen.

Continued rotation of cam 50 causes the follower in the right track tomove lever 55 to the right while follower 52 dwells. Movement of lever55 and tie rod 57 to the right, as shown in FIG. 5, results incounterclockwise rotation of links 58 and 60 so printing platen 62prints a container as illustrated in FIG. 11.

Continued roation of cam 50 results in the platen being moved to theposition shown in FIG. 5 with the inking mechanism being maintained inthe position shown in solid lines in FIG. 5 as a result of idler 52dwelling in its track. As the platen is elevated after printing on thecontainers the printed containers are advanced to the blanking andcutting station as described in my co-pending patent application to becut from the web of plastic material and then stacked.

The apparatus disclosed herein is specifically designed to use a rapidlydrying ink such as a water or alcohol based ink and can apply the inkevenly to platen 62. These types of inks dry so fast that they will bedry as the container leaves machine 10 so that items may be packagedimmediately therein without having to store the container in valuablestorage space while the ink dries.

I claim:

1. Container forming apparatus for forming containers from a web ofmaterial and printing on the formed containers comprising:

a. means for supporting a roll of the material so the roll is free torotate about its axis and be unrolled,

b. selectively actuatable movable means adapted to be in frictionalcontact with the roll of material to unroll the material upon beingmoved,

. a forming machine including container forming means,

. means to transfer the material from the roll to the forming machineand for applying a relatively constant tension to the material as it isbeing so transferred and for controlling the movement of said movablemeans and thus the unrolling of the material from the roll in accordancewith the consumption of the material by the machine,

e. a printing platen having a printing surface located within themachine,

f. an inking roller within the machine and movable between a first andsecond position,

g. means for moving said inking roller from the first position to thesecond position and in so doing rotating said inking roller so that saidinking roller will roll along said platen printing surface to ink saidsurface and after inking said platen printing surface move said inkingroller back to the first position,

h. means for preventing contact between said platen printing surface andsaid inking roller as said inking roller is moved from said secondposition to the first position and for bringing said platen printingsurface into contact with the container to print thereon afier theinking roller is returned to the first position,

i. said inking roller being defined by a cylindrical member havinghelical grooves on its periphery, and

j. means for instantaneously halting movement of said container formingmeans, said printing platen, the movement of said inking roller betweenfirst and second positions, said inking roller moving means and saidmeans for preventing contact between said inking roller and said platenas said inking roller is moved from the second position to the firstposition and the movement of said platen toward the container.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said instantaneouslyhalting means comprises a braking means.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said braking means includesa caliper disc rotatable with said movements, and a caliper brake forsaid caliper disc for halting rotation of said caliper disc and therebyhalting said movements.

4. A container forming apparatus according to claim 2 and furthercomprising:

a rotatable power shaft, said braking means being connected to saidpower shaft,

main drive means for driving at least a paratus and said power shaft,and

a clutch for selectively disconnecting said rotatable power shaft withrespect to said main drive means,

whereby the drive to said rotatable power shaft can be disengaged bysaid elutch and said rotatable power shaft can be stopped by saidbraking means.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said clutch is a jawclutch.

portion of said ap-

1. Container forming apparatus for forming containers from a web ofmaterial and printing on the formed containers comprising: a. means forsupporting a roll of the material so the roll is free to rotate aboutits axis and be unrolled, b. selectively actuatable movable meansadapted to be in frictional contact with the roll of material to unrollthe material upon being moved, c. a forming machine including containerforming means, d. means to transfer the material from the roll to thefOrming machine and for applying a relatively constant tension to thematerial as it is being so transferred and for controlling the movementof said movable means and thus the unrolling of the material from theroll in accordance with the consumption of the material by the machine,e. a printing platen having a printing surface located within themachine, f. an inking roller within the machine and movable between afirst and second position, g. means for moving said inking roller fromthe first position to the second position and in so doing rotating saidinking roller so that said inking roller will roll along said platenprinting surface to ink said surface and after inking said platenprinting surface move said inking roller back to the first position, h.means for preventing contact between said platen printing surface andsaid inking roller as said inking roller is moved from said secondposition to the first position and for bringing said platen printingsurface into contact with the container to print thereon after theinking roller is returned to the first position, i. said inking rollerbeing defined by a cylindrical member having helical grooves on itsperiphery, and j. means for instantaneously halting movement of saidcontainer forming means, said printing platen, the movement of saidinking roller between first and second positions, said inking rollermoving means and said means for preventing contact between said inkingroller and said platen as said inking roller is moved from the secondposition to the first position and the movement of said platen towardthe container.
 2. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein saidinstantaneously halting means comprises a braking means.
 3. An apparatusaccording to claim 2 wherein said braking means includes a caliper discrotatable with said movements, and a caliper brake for said caliper discfor halting rotation of said caliper disc and thereby halting saidmovements.
 4. A container forming apparatus according to claim 2 andfurther comprising: a rotatable power shaft, said braking means beingconnected to said power shaft, main drive means for driving at least aportion of said apparatus and said power shaft, and a clutch forselectively disconnecting said rotatable power shaft with respect tosaid main drive means, whereby the drive to said rotatable power shaftcan be disengaged by said clutch and said rotatable power shaft can bestopped by said braking means.
 5. The apparatus according to claim 4wherein said clutch is a jaw clutch.